Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-02-12

journeys about the room to secure my
clothes, had the threatening weapon been
removed from the close position of my
waking moment. Still, / had not
abandoned all hope. Surely. between
my rooms aud the bank, some opportu-
nifty for escape would present itself. 1
had no intention of unlocking the vault.
At the last moment l should have risked
few shots from the robbers revolvers.
My escort uni Aked the sitting room
door and paused with his hand on the
knob. At that instant sound of foot
steps was heard on the stairs, the key
was quietly turned in the lock, and l
felt for the first time the cold rim. of a
revolver on my temple. The steps passed
my door, and the weapon was lowered.
You all know what followed. Before
the weapon could be raised again, the
door fell in with crash, and the roDber,
who stood directly in front of it, was
dubbed to the floor and handcuffed by
a squad of policemen led by the paying
tellerl
"Dick did not return to his own
chambers that night. We spent the time
until daylight in my sitting-room.- At
first he absolutely refused to explain his
sudden appearance with the officers, for
Dick is a hard headed sort of fellow,
who scouts everything that cannot be
demonstrated by set rules and figures;
but finally he fairly unbosomed himself,
telling his story before had even given
hint of my own mysterious experiences.
"I slept soundly until nearly /
O'clock he said, with the air of man
who expects to be laughed at, and then
/ passed into a strange trance-like
dream. In that dream saw, as plainly
as / ever saw it in my life, the interior of
your bathroom, and seated at the foot
of the tub, where the opening door would
have concealed him from any one look
ing in, saw the man we had last seen
opposite the window where we dined. l
recognized at once the slouching figure
and the level line of eyebrows he then at
tempted to hide beneath the rim of his
slouch hat.
"'There was no light in the bath
room, or anywhere about the apartment,
but l had no difficulty in tracing every
line of his face, nor in seeing you sound
asleep IN your bed. My mind at once
became filled with the one idea that YOU
were in danger. In my sleep / called
out to you to lock the bathroom door,
and warned you that / could not get
the slouching figure we had seen on the
edge of the walk out of my mind could
not make you hear. In my alarm / even
gave the private signal we use at the
bank. / actually awoke to find myself
sounding it on the head of my bed, and
repeating over and over again the words
/ have told you of speaking.
II laughed at myself for q supersti-
tious idiot, and went to sleep again, only
to renew the experiences described-to
see the slouching figure in the bathroom.
and to repeat my cries of warning and
tho private signal. awoke again, to
find myself standing by my open window
Il must have raised it in my sleep, for I
closed it on retiring), sounding the pri-
vatc signal on the sash and repeating the
warning words. How long 1 should
have remained there cannot say. Nv
blows on the sash must have loosened
the catch, for the window fell with
crash. In a moment heard the City
Hall clock strike one.
4 was now thoroughly awake, but
could not drive from my mind the i'm
pressions created by my singular dreams.
Perhaps should have gone to bed again
only for the fact that the figure my
dream had shown me in your apartment
was the same l had warned you against
on parting with you for the night. Ire
solved to dress myself and seek you in
your rooms.
II was ashamed to come to your door
openly at that time of night. with no ex-
cuse to offer for my presence save such a
one as any old woman would have
laughed at, SO crept up stairs like spy
and listened. Isaw the flash of the dark
lantern at the threshold. heard enough
TO satisfy me that something was wrong.
So 1 went for the police. '"--Frank Leo
hes.